Growing mint plants indoors do not need much care like other vegetables. Within a few days, you can harvest tones of mint at home.
Give Your Mint plants indirect bright light, 13 to 20 degrees C temperature, Few ounces of NPK, and water. Your plant will grow on its own without any care (simple).
Now read below to know all the mint growing details.
Two methods of growing mint
You can grow mint with two methods one is from seeds and the other is from cuttings. Growing mint from mint seeds takes a longer time and most of the time mint does not grow from seeds.
The best way is to grow mint for cuttings. Cut the healthy sprig of mint by leaving the 1 inch above the soil level. The cutting should be disease-free and 10 cm long (4 inches). Sprig does not need to have laves on it because you need to remove the leaves first. Then put in the glass of water until it develops the little white roots.
Wait until the roots develop into a decent length. Add water if it is necessary and do not forget to change the water every 4 days to prevent fungus. It will take 10 to 12 days to develop roots out of the sprig.
Now Plant the seedling or rooted Sprig just below the soil. If you are plating many seedlings at once make sure every seedling is 15 apart from one another. This gives enough space to your seedling to grow healthy.
Indoor requirements for growing Mint Plants
Like any other plant, it needs light, water, soil, or another growing medium, container, Fertilizer, and good suitable environment.
First, we will talk about
Light
Mint does not like to grow in bright direct sunlight. Direct sunlight damages the soft mint leaves and the plant cannot survive. Remember that a place has a high temperature where direct sun rays fall.
For mint, you need to find the place at your home where this little herb plant gets enough indirect bright light. In simple words, grow it in Partial shade.
You can also grow it in full sunlight but with at one condition that is you need to water your mint plant frequently. This helps to keep the moisture in the soil that helps your mint to thrive and protect it from extra heat.
Soil for Growing Mint at Home
Soil is a good growing medium for mint plants. All you need to do is choose the best fertile soil and start growing mint in it. Make sure the soil has all the essential nutrients and if you feel the soil is deficient in some of the nutrients. You can add organic fertilizers to the soil to make it perfect for your mint gardening.
Or the best way is to mix some of the compost with the soil that you are going to use for growing mint at home. Compost gives an instant nutrient boost to small plants like basil, mint, lettuce, etc. Moreover, making compost at home is a fast and easy process. No need to buy compost or expensive fertilizers from the market.
The most important thing in mint gardening is to maintain the right level of pH. Mint required a pH between 6 to 7 pH. This clearly shows that mint can survive in little acidic conditions but not in too alkaline soil. So, testing the pH of the growing medium is important.
You can also use hydroponics systems to grow mint but I do not recommend you buy hydroponics to just grow mint at home. Use any Suitable container and grow mint in it.
Hydroponic systems are good for growing big plants like vegetable plants.
Watering the Mint
The watering needs of mint are depending upon the place where it is growing.
For example, if you are growing it in direct sunlight then you need to give it more water. Because the sun rays make the soil dry in a few hours and mint-like to grow in moist soil.
On the other hand, If your mint pot is in the partial shady area you need to give it less water.
No doubt mint required frequent water but there is the golden rule to water the plant.
And that is
Check the soil condition if the upper 1 to 2 inches of soil feel dry, water your plant immediately. But if just the upper layer looks dry but the soil is well moist from within then not need to water it.
Just keep in mind, excess of water can kill your plants as the mint plants are small, they are not so strong to handle the extra moisture in the soil. Make sure the soil is not soggy and wet because these two conditions can damage the plant roots and you will end up with nothing.
The best watering time for mint is every morning. This way the soil absorbs a good amount of water that helps to keep it moist even in the afternoon when the temperature hits the high level.
Temperature and Humidity
You need to care if you are growing mint outside in containers. Temperature between 12 to 25 degrees C is good for mint. It can thrive in this temperature range. Put it in direct sun rays in the morning and drag it in shade between 12 pm to 4 pm. To maintain the good humidity level stick to the proper watering schedule. Humidity matters when you grow plants inside your home.
Because in outdoor gardening you grow plants according to the season.
Indoor growing mint
The good news is if you are growing mint indoors than you do not need to worry about the temperature and humidity. Because the temperature and humidity level of your house is perfect for it. You may need to give it a little boost of fertilizer NPK 10-10-10.
A little dose of it can speed up the growth and your plant will spread all over the place (means cover every part of the container). In simple words, you can have two containers mint in just one container with the help of fertilizing it.
Fertilizing the Mint
Feed the mint that you are growing in containers to speed up the growth also to get a heavy harvest. All-purpose Liquid fertilizers are best for Container mint plants.
You can buy liquid NPK (Nitrogen, Phosphorous, Potassium) in a 10-10-10 ratio. Every bottle of liquid fertilizer has many other micro and macro-nutrients along with many trace elements.
The best thing about these fertilizers is you can use the same fertilizer for many other green leafy plants like Basil, Lettuce, Lemon Grass, etc.
Mint Containers
When you grow mint in containers put the container on the cemented floor or put a cemented or wooden plate under the containers. Because they will root and spread wherever they get in touch with the ground.
Inside your home put the container on any shelf or anywhere you want it to be.
Raised garden beds are the best option for plants like mints.
Harvesting your Mint Plants
Once your plants have good growth means when the stems are about 6 to 10 inches long. If you grow mint plants from seeds it will take 45 to 60 days to reach 10 inches of height. Whereas mint is easy to grow from cuttings and cutting reach at the height of 10 inches in 30 days.
Now pay attention, at the time of harvesting mint plants make sure you only harvest the one-third of the plant. Because if you harvest more chances are your mint gets weak and go under decline mode and your mint will not grow again.
Another method of harvesting is leaving the plant until the stems reach a height of more than 1 feet. Then cut the plants to one-half this encourages the plants to produce more little leaves frequently.
Mint and Pests
Mint does not attract pests in 90% of the cases mint do not get affected by any disease or pest. But sometimes growers do not pay attention to their plants, plants get affected.
The most common type of mint infection is rust. The orange spots appear undersides the leaves are called mint rust. Spray organic fungicide to cure the leaves. Do not use synthetic pest to prevent sprays because you grow these plants to consume and nobody likes to eat mint full of toxins.
Varieties of Mint
Mint has more than 26 varieties most commonly grown are Peppermint, Orange Mint, Apple Mint, and Pineapple Mint. The process of growing mint is the same for all types. Follow this article step by step to growing mint at home.
